Of Partnerships and Prank Wars
by BewareTheIdesOfMarch
Summary: Because Liechtenstein was the only one who saw it coming, and even she has no idea what just happened.


**AN:** _What is this? Hetalia? Where did this come from?_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Hetalia. Hong Kong's personality and name are shamelessly taken from SpeakingThroughWrittenWords. Go read his/her stories, they're awesome.

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"Okay, did anyone actually see this coming? Anyone at all?" In silence, only Lichtenstein raised her hand. The others turned towards her in shock. "Care to explain? Because really, I'm a little lost." Tentatively she stood, fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve.

"Well, he is my brother. And I do live with him…" the poor girl was fumbling for something to say under the piercing gaze of the other nations. Taiwan took a deep breath and stood up to support her friend.

"It's my fault." Everyone in the room turned to look at her instead. "At the time it seemed like a good idea. I didn't realize it would come to this." She looked a little embarrassed. "He asked me who I was always going to visit, so I thought I'd introduce him to Liechtenstein. I didn't count on her brother being there. Even after that, I never suspected anything like…anything like _this_."

"Well, maybe you should have considered the consequences!" Prussia, who had taken over the impromptu meeting in his brother's absence, seemed livid.

"Prussia, calm down. Don't shout at the girl." The albino has-been glared at Austria, but took a seat.

"How can I be calm when they've defeated West? How?!" Hungary scoffed.

"I wouldn't say walking out of the building muttering, 'I don't have to deal with this, crazy might not be contagious but I still don't have to deal with this.' can be considered defeated."

"Actually Hungary, Prussia has a point, aru. Germany has never abandoned a meeting so far. He always just calls us to order or throws us out for a break."

"Except for that one time Feliciano showed up without pants."

"Yes, thank you Iceland, except for that one time Feliciano came in his underwear, aru." Everyone nodded approvingly. That sounded right. Germany normally put up with the chaos that was formally called a 'World Meeting' rather well. Unless North Italy forgot his pants. …Was he wearing pants today?

"Yes, I think he was. They got awfully stained in the first strike. He was sitting right by the window with his brother."

"Oh, so that is why Spain is absent? Romano threw a fit about the paint?"

"No, Spain isn't here because someone made him leave after he showed up dressed like a conquistador and was threatening people with his ax."

"Oh, of course. I must have forgotten."

"Right, back to the topic at hand. How did we miss the signs?" England looked back at Liechtenstein. She bit her lip.

"C'mon Lili, tell us what you saw." Australia peered around England, barely able to suppress a snicker when the island nation turned towards him again. England bristled, having caught the look on the Aussie's face.

"Well," interjected Liechtenstein. "At first they didn't seem to like each other very much. Brother didn't like him coming over and almost shot him when he jumped out of the hall closet."

"Wait, what was he doing in the closet?" Finland looked confused. Apparently no one had ever told him the horror stories of various pranks he'd pulled in the past.

"You mean, Kong's never pranked you?"

"No…he's never so much as spoken to me."

"Me neither, but that didn't stop him from gluing all the chairs in my house to the ceiling."

"Sweden told him that if he ever did something like that to Finland he wouldn't even live to regret it."

"Denmark…how do you know that?" The nation in question shifted uncomfortably.

"I might've asked him to prank someone for me…" China sighed. Hadn't he told them not encourage that prankster?

"What did you bribe him with, aru?" Denmark looked especially guilty now.

"…Legos." Everyone facepalmed. No exceptions.

"So he was trying to scare Switzer-, would you stop laughing for a single bloody minute!?"

"Sorry England, I just, ahahaha, just can't help it! It's, ahaha, they're PINK and when you _frown_, ahaha!" Australia, unable to contain himself any longer, dissolved into laughter at the sight of England's face. The other nations were hard pressed to keep straight faces at such a ridiculous sight but miraculously managed it after they saw the dangerous black aura that filled the air around the humiliated country.

There was a bang and a strangled scream as England threw his sort-of brother/colony out of the room, leaving him to whatever horrible fate awaited him on the other side of the door. Everyone else got really quiet as he stalked back to his seat, but on the inside most of them were laughing just as hard as Australia had. He was _frowning_ and with the _eyebrows_… This was comedy gold. Prussia stood again, having finally calmed down enough to speak.

"Liechtenstein, Taiwan, just when did they first meet?" This time Taiwan answered.

"Oh, it must have been a year and a half ago, right? Because it was before Christmas, but he tried to join your celebration this past year, I remember you told me about that, and it's spring now…" She looked to Lili, who nodded an affirmation.

"Yes, that sounds right." She giggled. "Christmas was a _disaster_. I've never seen Vash so angry…"

"Back on topic! When did they start showing signs of…of _this_ sort of thing?"

"They didn't get along very well, or at least, Brother didn't like him very much. I don't know what Maddox thought of him."

"He finds Switzerland amusing. It's what he told me when I asked him why he kept coming with me. Something about him having the best reactions…" Taiwan lapsed into thoughtful silence. Liechtenstein jumped in again.

"I guess Brother finally started seeing Hong Kong as a smart prankster rather than an average one. And once we got used to him entering through the chimney or windows instead of doors, it was fun having him around."

"So were they friends?" Taiwan laughed at the question.

"No, of course not! I'd don't think they ever properly got along until the Partnership was proposed."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, the partnership?" Prussia looked lost and bordering on another outburst.

"No," said Taiwan, "the _Partnership_. With a capital 'P'." There were nods all around the room. That made more sense.

"What sort of…Partnership are we talking about here?"

Estonia raised an eyebrow at Austria. "You were there for the first and second strikes. Don't tell me you haven't put it together by now."

"I was a little distracted by Japan." huffed Austria. "I was helping him put out Greece after he accidently caught fire. And he _slept_ through it."

"…You're kidding. He slept through it?"

"Yes. I believe he's still in the conference room too."

"Is Japan there too?"

"No America, I saw him leave soon after Germany."

"I saw that too! There wasn't a spot of paint or potatoes on him!" Many of the countries looked shocked. None of them had escaped the duo's wrath. Hearing that Japan had come out of it with dignity and clothing intact made many reevaluate their opinions of him. Maybe he really _was_ a ninja…

"But what kind of Partnership is it?" Yet again, everyone looked at Liechtenstein. She looked at Taiwan who, in a rare fit of speechlessness, looked at China.

"I don't believe it has anything to do with their bosses or their people. My boss would have told me if they were getting legally involved, aru."

"So it must be just between Vash and Maddox, no strings or paperwork attached." Taiwan winced. Now she felt guilty for having inadvertently brought this down on everyone else. Then she remembered that China's ponytail was now several shades of purple and felt better. A purple China and a South Korea who had been duct-taped to the ceiling were well worth the discomfort of everyone else. She could always hold this over their heads as future blackmail material.

"So, this means their bosses don't know? …And they can't get in trouble because it doesn't actually involve world problems?" Finland looked worried. Although, that might have been because Sweden had been handcuffed to Cuba and was still in the conference room at the mercy of the two prank masters.

"No, it's worse than that." For once Seychelles seemed grim. It didn't quite fit with her naturally sunny nature, but it went to prove what the horrors of a war (even a prank war) could do to a person. "They can easily do this again. Because it's not on paper and their Partnership exists solely between two people, not the nations they represent, they are free to do this as many times as they wish. And there's nothing we can do to stop it. If they get fed up with us or someone annoys them they'll strike again. Maybe next time it will be our homes. Maybe they could pull an America and dump all of England's tea in the harbor. The might dye all of Poland's clothes black. We don't know."

The unused conference room the 'surviving' nations had barricaded themselves in fell silent. Seychelles was right. Switzerland and Hong Kong were unstoppable, and any one of them could be the next victim. Hong Kong was the undisputed prank master, and if Switzerland was covering their tracks with the yards of red tape he was able to conjure up, they couldn't be tracked. A frontal assault would end with a bullet someplace where the sun doesn't shine and the attacker being blown sky-high. They were covered on all sides.

"Wh-what do we do?!" Latvia stuttered, looking terrified. He was shaking again and the chalk that caked him from head to toe was floating off of him and onto the floor like snow.

"I don't know." Everyone looked around the room at each other. Nobody had any suggestions. A heavy atmosphere descended upon the room. What _could_ they do? Anything? _Anything at all?_

"I know what we can do." Heads turned as a small figure crawled out from under the table, adjusting a sailor's cap that was slightly blackened on one side. Sealand faced the other inhabitants of the room. "We can do what they did. We can prank _back_."

break./

"I am not sure why you agreed to this Vash, but I think this Partnership could be the beginning of a new era."

"I'm not sure myself. But the money I'll be getting from those pictures is promising."

"I especially liked the one with France running from those fire ants. His facial expression is extremely entertaining. How much do you think England will pay for it?"

"I won't be selling it to England. France will be buying it for much more than Arthur would pay."

"Oh?"

"The lengths we are willing to go to for our bosses to think highly of us are amazing, are they not?"

"Vash Zwingli, I might be in love with you."

"I would be more convinced if you didn't speak in monotone. And had facial expressions."

"You do not wish to be my lover?"

"…No."

"Is my friendship request still pending?"

"It…has been accepted."

"I am glad our Partnership is full operational."

"It appears to be mutually beneficial."

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**AN:** _I have no regrets. After reading SpeakingThroughWrittenWords's Hearth series (which you should all go read) I was fully converted to Swiss/HK. Seriously. I love it very much. If you see anything wrong or have questions or objections or like Nutella please review! Or send me a PM or something. Let me know what you think!_

_Edit: If you're getting this again because you followed (even thought it's clearly marked as complete) it's because I went back and fixed a couple things. Everything's pretty much the same so sorry for the false alarm._


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